


The Unofficial Portrait

by susiesundrop



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: And then Toph brought the chaos, Gen, It was going to be a chill get together, Katara is definitely not having a moral crisis about this, Post-Series, Zuko's here in spirit, implied Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25643656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/susiesundrop/pseuds/susiesundrop
Summary: Every fire lord has a formal portrait, but only the most popular get one that's more "relaxed."Six years after the War, Toph finds a spicy, unauthorized Zuko drawing and decides to inflict it on the Gaang.
Relationships: Katara & The Gaang (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	The Unofficial Portrait

Katara’s pretty impressed that they’ve been able to keep up the biannual group hangouts for these six years since the War, even though not everyone makes it every time. They try to change up the location, but Sokka and Suki’s place on Kyoshi Island is one of Katara’s favorites. 

“Too bad we’re missing Zuko this time,” says Aang, helping himself to the bowl of bean curd puffs on the table.

“We’ll get him next summer,” Sokka says. “Speaking of missing people, isn’t Toph supposed to get in from the Fire Nation around now?”

“Hey nerds,” she says from the doorway. 

“You made it!” Sokka throws up his arms. 

“Look what I bought while I was killing time before the boat.” She pulls a scroll from her bag and slams it onto the table in front of Suki, who cautiously unrolls it. 

From the other side of the table, Katara sees Suki’s eyes go wide. “Oh boy.” 

“What’s so interesting about this thing?” Sokka leans over to take a look. “Whaa! Haa? It’s—?” He points at the parchment and looks at Suki. 

Suki tears herself away to meet his eyes. “Right?” 

Aang wordlessly stands from his seat next to Katara and goes to crouch behind them. “Whoa. That’s Zuko. And he’s… really naked.” 

Katara feels the blood drain from her face. “He’s _what_.”

Suki’s back to looking at the parchment. “Well, there are some artfully placed flames. Whoever drew this at least wanted to keep some things a mystery.” Toph is busy wiping away tears of silent laughter.

Sokka, now standing and starting to pace, can finally form a full sentence. “How come nobody’s selling porny drawings of me?!”

“I think the artist probably wants to capitalize on Zuko’s… popularity,” says Suki. 

Gasping, Toph adds, “Yeah, nobody cares who you are, boomerang boy.” Katara is frozen in place. And her heartbeat’s in her head.

Aang studies the portrait. “He’s doing a pretty basic firebending move. They probably should have gone for something a little flashier, like a fire comet or something.” 

Having paced to the end of the room, Sokka turns and immediately stops walking. “Suki! Why are you still staring at it?! You’re married, remember? To me!” 

“I know, I know, but just from an artistic standpoint, this is… something else. The definition right here, for instance.” She points at something. Aang shrugs.

“Does it look like him?” Katara asks. 

Sokka jumps on the question. “No way. He is NOT that jacked in real life. I’d remember.” 

Suki squints. “The facial expression is a little…” She holds her hand parallel to the floor and rocks it slightly. 

“I thought it was the spitting image,” says Toph. “Katara, just look at it, already.” 

“I couldn’t.” Katara pulls her braid over her shoulder and starts fidgeting with it, hand over hand. “It’d be disrespectful.” 

“As usual, I have to do everything myself around here.” Toph wrenches the portrait out of Suki’s hands and presents it to Katara.

“You’ve got it upside-down,” Aang says. Toph huffs and rights it. 

Katara tries very hard to focus on the intricacy of the patterned border, and the competency of the flames, but there's not much else to look at besides Zuko himself and that's when her eyes go rogue and make the decision for her.

Holy shit. This cannot be an accurate portrait. Right? Like, it's not possible for a random dock merchant to know what Zuko looks like when he’s… like that. Was it the definition of his v-lines that Suki was talking about? Because those are very well-shaded. 

Katara clears her throat. “Okay, so we’re all in agreement: we can never tell him we saw this.” 

Aang nods. “That would be pretty weird if he found out.” 

“I’m certainly not saying anything,” Suki agrees.

Sokka scoffs. “You think I wanna have that conversation with him? ‘Hey man, what’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up, a bunch of Fire Nation dicks for you’?” 

“That’s vagina erasure,” Toph points out. 

“I’ll come up with a more inclusive joke later,” says Sokka. 

There's one other thing Katara's forgotten to notice: the tiny inscription at the bottom of the parchment. _This portrait has not been prepared or approved by Fire Lord Zuko, the Fire Nation Royal Palace, or any of its affiliates._ Well, of course not. As if he would ever pose for this.

Zuko can never find out this exists. Ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Annie, for reading it first.


End file.
